Ruby Ridge traverse Scramble on 23-Jul-2026

While I had done Ruby Ridge a number of times, I've always had my eyes on doing a traverse, ascending the southeast ridge to the slightly lower east peak, following the ridge to the west peak and descending the southwest slopes to the Lineham Falls trail and out.

Here is the ascent ridge, as seen from the Bear's Hump. By staying mostly on slabs, we found good footing. A few cliffs were bypassed with short scrambly sections.

The umbrella plants put on an amazing show. All four alpine species were in flower, including the less frequently seen Eriogonum ovalifolium which has a variety of generic common names - I prefer Silver Plant as it features large white flower heads and silvery leaves.

We were on the first peak by shortly after noon. The smoke had become noticeably thicker,

The traverse was mostly open ridges, some parts heavily plowed by a feeding grizzly, and more short scrambly parts. On the way, we met a small group of sheep, still shedding their winter coats.

Walking through the red shales, we arrived at the main peak.

Looking back to the lower east peak:

On descent, the southwest slopes feature short scree sections, making for fast travel. Pockets of flowers were very dramatic, including Alberta Penstemon.

We were back at the cars by 3:15. Totals for the trip were 7.6 km, 1050 m egain and 6.5 hours.

I would recommend this traverse with its variety of terrain and reasonably easy travel.

Thanks to Sim and Lenard for joining me on this traverse.